We have two user accounts: Owner, and mine. Both have all the same administrative privileges and everything, and both run the same processes. We have 1.5 GB of memory, so I don't think that's the problem. Now on my user account, The log off and turn off computer prompts show up instantly, whereas the owner account takes up to 20 seconds to show. Sometimes longer. Why would this be, and how can I fix this?
How does the Owner account behave if you boot to Safe Mode with Networking? If better then something is starting at boot that is causing the problem. Try the following:
First, physically disconnect from the Internet to prevent a malware infection while your Anti-virus and/or Firewall are disabled in the following steps.
Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the Startup tab then the Disable All button.
Re-boot, logon as Owner then see if it shuts down normally.
If yes then use msconfig to enable several items at a time till you find the culprit.
If no, start msconfig and click on the Services tab.
Check the Hide All Microsoft Services box then click the Disable All button.
Re-boot, logon as Owner then see if it shuts down normally.
Once you've found the culprit, uninstall it or find out how to eliminate it from your system. Simply disabling it in msconfig is a temporary fix at best. Enable everything else you disabled.
Reconnect to the Internet when your AV and firewall are active again.
Another possibility is a corrupted Owner account. Follow the directions here to create a new account and copy all your user data over to it if it works correctly.
